Ghostly Goals
by McSlendy
Summary: Grunkle Stan shouldn't really have bought those stuff from the flea market... This is a very poor attempt at making a Horror fic. You have been warned. Oh, and I'm making up this story as I go along. Freaking yay. What else did you expect from a guy who churns out crappy fanfics once in a blue moon, anyways?
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer**

I don't own Gravity Falls. If I did, some people would be suffering a fate worse than death by now in the show. Alex Hirsch and his friends owns this, so therefore that's never going to happen.

 **Author's Note 1**

I am a horrible, horrible fanfic author. With that out of the way, please enjoy this attempt at a horror fanfic of mine. More than likely you will be disappointed, especially since I don't know why I keep going back to FanFiction to try and write fanfics again. It's been years since I continued my other stories, and good God I think the only thing here I'm good at doing are short stories. My mind is shattered; seek guidance I must. The wordsmiths of lost ages past frown upon me, crushing my literary soul into dust. Defeat I face, but my accursed mind ever runs rampant - a fuss.

* * *

 _Prologue_

 _The New Attractions_

* * *

As far as mornings in Gravity Falls went, things began to look interesting when Grunkle Stan unloaded some crates off a van with Soos' help. Dipper and Mabel had just stopped watching the TV and had gone to hang out with Wendy at the Gift Shop area when the two men came in. They stared in wonder as they carried each of them inside. Wendy looked up from her magazine at the counter, and just as quickly looked down back to it when it didn't capture her attention. Stan wiped the sweat off his forehead and Soos casually dropped the last crate on the floor, panting.

"That's the last of them, Mr. Pines." He said. "Finally we can open them!"

"Uh, Grunkle Stan...?" Dipper asked, walking over with Mabel.

"What's with the crates?" Mabel finished for her brother, equally curious.

"Just some new attractions for the Mystery Shack." Stan replied, scratching his chin. He looked around the room and narrowed his eyes. "Now where'd I put that crowbar..."

Soos went into his break room, likely to look for the tool himself.

"New attractions?!" Mabel perked up, excitedly inspecting each crate. "Open them, open them! I wanna see what's inside!"

Dipper pursed his lips. "They're probably all full of junk again, Mabel. Remember the last time Grunkle Stan opened crates?"

She stuck her tongue out at her twin. "Yep! But, not all of them were full of junk."

"Seriously, just where did I put that crowbar..." Stan grumbled to himself, searching for the missing crowbar too.

"Remember that cowboy hat I called dibs on?" Mabel continued. She put on an imaginary hat and tipped it. "I liked that hat! It made me feel... western!"

Dipper rolled his eyes, but couldn't help but smile at the memory. They played Cowboy that day, with Mabel obviously winning. "Yeah, if you mean funny by western."

"Hey!" Mabel glared indignantly at her brother, only for him to laugh a little as she punched him lightly on the shoulder.

"Found it!" Soos called out as he approached the others. They watched the repairman make his way to his boss, carrying the missing tool.

"Here it is, Mr. Pines." Soos held it out on his palm. The crowbar dully shone in the light. It looked old yet sturdy, enough to get the job done.

Stan wordlessly took it and approached the pile of crates. He pried the top of the nearest crate open, and Soos helped him out by pushing it down with him until it lifted the lid.

"Voila!" Stan said with a flourish of his hand. He and Soos took the lid off and propped it to the side. "Our newest attractions!"

Everyone except Wendy and Stan peered into the opened crate. Their eyes widened when they saw what was inside.

"Woah..." They breathed out. The conman smugly smirked at their awed reactions, proud of himself.

Dipper grabbed and pulled out something by its hilt. "Wow, cool! A katana!"

He was about to unsheathe and swing it around when Stan suddenly bopped him on the top of his head.

"Ow! That hurt!" He cried, rubbing the spot where he got hit. He glared at the man who hurt him. "What was that for, Grunkle Stan?!"

"No playing with the merchandise." Stan said with a stern look on his face, taking his katana away. "And no throwing the throwing stars." He added for Mabel, who was about to do so.

"Aww..." She looked down, disappointed that she couldn't throw any while she still had the chance. The conman took all twenty-four of them away from her and carefully put them back.

He glanced at Soos, who tried and failed to put on a samurai's helmet properly in the middle of the twins being told off. He sighed and resisted the urge to bury his face in his palm.

"Put that back too, Soos." Stan said tiredly. It wasn't even afternoon yet and already he wanted to decompress. It didn't help that he was old and happened to have carried crates earlier.

Soos started for a moment, before quickly taking the helmet off like it was on fire. He didn't want to annoy his boss any further. "Sorry, Mr Pines."

Dipper stopped rubbing his head. He put his hand under his chin and narrowed his eyes at the crate's contents. "Say Grunkle Stan, where'd you get all of this stuff anyway? They don't look like cheap knock-offs to me."

Stan shrugged. "I got them off a guy at the flea market selling them by the crate loads. He wanted to give rid of them, said they were cursed." The conman chuckled, dismissing the original owner's claim. "You guys should have seen the look on his face when I said I'd take them! He was practically happy to get rid of them!" Stan's chuckle turned into a laugh. "For free, too!"

Naturally Dipper didn't like the sound of that, so he eyed the stuff inside the crate suspiciously, made wary at the mention of a curse. "Hmm..."

For some reason he couldn't put a finger on, Dipper felt uneasy - his encounters with the supernatural in this little Oregon town of Gravity Falls had opened his eyes to the idea that things were more than they initially seemed. The idea of Stan actually displaying cursed items that he got from the local flea market left a cold feeling in the pit of his stomach. Doing something like that was bound to end in trouble, considering the frequency of things happening to him and his family. Meanwhile, Mabel went to talk to her Grunkle in hushed tones. Dipper caught the word 'stickers', and only that, while Soos opened another crate. Wendy was still at the counter, engrossed in her magazine since she didn't have anything better to preoccupy herself with.

Dipper stopped over thinking things and sighed. He picked up another katana from the crate and began inspecting it to pass the time while his sister and his great uncle finished talking. The katana he got was shorter compared to the one he had earlier. He tested its weight - it was very light, but strangely enough the hilt seemed to meld into his hand as if it was meant to be. He gave it a few experimental swings. To his puzzlement, the air around him whistled slightly each time he did, like the sheathe wasn't there at all. The younger Pines twin unsheathed the katana a little and stared into his own face in the shiny blade. His eyebrows shot up; it was clean. Very clean. Unsettled, he was about to put it back when he saw something weird in his reflection...

"Alright everybody, time to set them up! We're going to display these two days from now in the Exhibit area!" Stan said loudly. The unexpected announcement caused Dipper to drop the katana back into the crate in surprise. He nearly cut himself too. The others didn't seem to have noticed his near accident. "Now let's get started!" His Grunkle continued. "Time is money!"

With that, the conman started supervising the fake attractions being assembled. He ordered Soos to get the mannequin stands from the van, afterwards telling Wendy to help. She sighed.

Mabel left her brother's side and looked at the contents of the other crate Soos opened. She hummed to herself as she rummaged through it. And then she squealed. "Wow! Pretty dresses!"

Dipper still stood there by the first opened crate, blinking slowly. He could have sworn he saw something else in his reflection, something that definitely wasn't his face. He frowned. Whatever that thing was, it wasn't human. But it could have been a trick of the light, one in which he thought he saw something else when in reality it was just his reflection that got distorted - after all, maybe he was being paranoid about the whole 'curse' thing. Just because someone said that the stuff in the crates are cursed, that doesn't necessarily mean that they're really cursed, right?

But now that he thought about it, if they weren't cursed, then why did the guy who used to own all of this stuff gave them all away to his Grunkle for free?

 _"This needs investigating."_ He muttered under his breath. _"And I'll tell Mabel about this later."_

"Hey Dipper, Mabel! Put those two crates over there in the back for me, will ya? I'll sort them out myself later." Stan turned to them, having caught the twins not doing anything helpful.

"Okay!" Mabel answered for the two of them cheerily. She skipped ahead of her twin, and filing his thoughts for later, Dipper shrugged as they approached the crates.

Compared to the other crates Stan and Soos unloaded from the van, these particular ones looked old and termite-ridden, almost creepily so. They were smaller and lighter, but they smelled for some reason. Maybe that was why they were placed in a corner of the room instead by the other crates so that nobody would have the misfortune of being anywhere near them. The twins' faces scrunched up at the horrible stench the moment they smelled it - because the crates smelled like centuries-old moldy socks! It was a smell that could kill if it was actually weaponised.

 _"Ewwwww!"_ The twins exclaimed disgustedly, holding their noses and coming this close to puking out their breakfast. _"Gross!"_

Dipper recovered first, but looked slightly green. He glared at his Grunkle for the second time today. "What are in these crates?!"

Stan shrugged nonchalantly. "Beats me, kid. I didn't ask. I was too busy hauling all of them into the van with Soos while the guy who used to own all of this tried to kiss my shoes."

The Pines twins began to shake. Another wave of nausea threatened to wash over them again, and Mabel would have really puked if Dipper hadn't pulled her away from the crates.

Their Grunkle rolled his eyes. "They don't smell _that_ bad! Now get a move on, you two!"

The twins gave disbelieving looks at their Grunkle. As much as they didn't want to know why Stan thought the smell wasn't that bad, they didn't want to pass this job on to either Wendy or Soos. Wendy would probably quit on the spot and Soos would probably faint or worse. The twins hurriedly put them in the back just as they were asked to, not wanting to be near the stench any longer than necessary. But Dipper stayed a moment longer after Mabel to stare at the crates... at a distance, of course. He didn't want to even come close to puking his breakfast like his sister almost did, and he also didn't have the luxury of someone else watching over him while he inspected as much of the crates as he possibly could as far away from them as possible.

"I wonder what's inside them..." He said to himself. "But then again, is knowing really worth my life?"

"Hey Dipper, you coming?" Mabel asked from the doorway.

"Coming," Dipper nodded, but not before shuddering when he remembered the smell. Most likely the crates were very unclean. "Before we go back, let's go wash our hands first. Thoroughly."

"Good idea." His twin agreed, rushing ahead before he could catch up. "Dibs on the soap!"

"You will do no such thing!" Dipper called out and ran after her.

* * *

Washing their hands in the kitchen thoroughly before having a short water fight, the twins returned to the Gift Shop area. Wendy was now nearby and curiously peering into the opened crates.

"Hey guys, what's with all these cool Japanese stuff?" The redhead asked, cocking her eyebrow at them as she turned. "I wasn't really listening to Stan earlier, so... What's up with them?"

"Grunkle Stan said they're going to be the Shack's new attractions." Mabel replied. "I wanna keep one of them for myself!"

Dipper kept quiet, remembering how weird that one katana he had held felt like. The thought of keeping one of them had crossed his mind, but he wasn't sure if Stan would agree to either he or Mabel keeping some merchandise. The hat he wore right now and the grappling hook Mabel always somehow managed to carry around lately were already gifts enough from the old man. They both liked what they got, and since they were on the house they cherished them. That, and he almost got cut by the self-same katana he had been swinging around with its sheathe on.

 _"Not to mention that thing I saw in my reflection..."_ He recalled, scratching his chin. He picked up his second katana, and started swinging it around again to listen to the whistling in the air.

Wendy heard the commotion, saw the katana in his hand, and put two and two together. She took in its appearance, and whistled in appreciation. "Dipper, nice choice. It suits you."

The pre-teen snapped out of his thoughts - blushing tomato-red - when his crush's compliment reached finally his brain. "You really think so?! I mean... thanks!"

She chuckled. "You're welcome, kiddo."

Wendy turned around to start rummaging through the crate next to her, which a close-to-a-heart-attack Dipper was thankful for. But he had to raise an eyebrow as he stared at his weapon more closely. It had a dark red hilt and a pitch black sheath, both of which were finely detailed and clearly maintained. How did he not notice this before? Sure, it looked cool, but dark red and black weren't really his colours. He preferred a slightly brighter color scheme. There was also something about this katana that he didn't like, namely that it was too sharp and too clean.

Dipper knew it was a real weapon, not just a toy. Weapons like katanas were meant to be kept in optimal condition so they could be used against their owner's enemies. But the way this katana's blade shone and the way it looked pleasing to the eyes suggested something sinister in the back of his mind. Maybe it was just his paranoia acting up again, or maybe not. In all honesty, the katana felt like it had been sharpened and cleaned to the point of madness. But it was just an ordinary katana though, right? Weren't all katanas supposed to be very sharp?

His hand felt cold all of a sudden...

"Hey guys, look at me!" Mabel exclaimed.

Dipper spun on the spot, looking directly at his sister. Instead of her usual get-up, she wore a small bright pink summer kimono, with prints of whitish sakura leaves on choice places on the dress that gave Mabel an air of elegance as well as of that of simplicity. She done her hair up by using ornate sticks, where they seemed to be a matching part of her kimono. Wrapped around her waist was a light red obi that complemented Mabel's small figure. She looked really pretty in her kimono, not to mention very cute, and to his surprise Dipper found himself staring at her.

"How do I look?" She asked the pre-teen and teen, turning slowly on the spot for both to see.

Wendy, again to Dipper's surprise, squealed loudly. "Oh my God, Mabel! You look so adorable! I so gotta take a lot of pictures of you!"

That Wendy did, taking more than one picture of Mabel using her phone with a smile on her face.

Mabel giggled at her older friend's reaction, posing with each click. "Thanks Wendy!"

She turned to her twin, who still stared at her. "Well, bro? What do you think?"

Dipper didn't answer.

"Dipper? Hello, Earth to Dipper! Come in, Dipper!" Mabel waved a hand in front of his face.

He still didn't react.

Just as she decided to throw something heavy at him, he snapped out of his trance.

"What? O-Oh! You look really nice, Mabel! I bet Pacifica will be jealous of you if she saw you wearing that!" Dipper sheepishly scratched his head.

He had to wonder why he took so long to answer her. It wasn't like he was looking at his sister in _that_ way, because that would be gross and he knew it was wrong on so many levels. It was a line he'd never cross. All in all, him taking that long to reply? It was weird. It must have been his hormones acting up, since he was going through puberty. Yeah, that sounded just about right.

"Oh, stop that Bro-Bro! You're making me blush!" Mabel giggled again, blushing lightly.

He laughed his awkwardness off. "You're welcome, sis."

That was when he realized something.

"Wait, how did you get changed into that so fast anyways?"

Mabel smirked mischievously, before winking. "It's a secret."

Dipper sighed. "Whatever. You'd better change back into your normal clothes before Grunkle Stan notices, though."

She nodded and went to the other room to change out of sight, leaving her brother alone with Wendy. Just as he realized this, the redhead turned around.

"Dipper, check this out!" She held a bow in one hand, and a quiver full of arrows in the other. She put the quiver's strap over her shoulder and struck a pose with the bow. "I look cool, don't I?"

Dipper smiled at his crush. She looked more than cool in his eyes. "No you don't..."

She raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"You look awesome." He finished.

Now it was her turn to smile. "Gee, thanks Dipper."

Stan walked over to the two, huffing.

"Alright alright, enough playing around with the merchandise you two." He said, annoyance creeping into his tone. He narrowed his eyes at them, and looked at the redhead. "Wendy, since you're not manning the counter... help Soos out."

The teen groaned. "'kay."

The younger Pines twin looked on and could only feel disappointment. The redhead dropped the bow and quiver back into the crate she took them from. She went over to Soos, who attempted to make heads or tails of which way he should point a completed mannequin's katana. Wendy casually took the katana and posed the mannequin to hold it over its head.

"As for you, Dipper..." Stan took something out of his pocket. "Hold on to this until I figure out what to do with it."

It was a necklace. Its design was beautiful - it was shaped like a crescent. But what it was made out of, Dipper didn't know.

The pre-teen looked up at him, confused. "Huh? Why me?"

"Something tells me you're better off with it." The conman half-shrugged. "Just keep it safe until I want it back, okay?"

"Okay..." Dipper nodded slowly, uncertain of whether or not if he really was. He sure didn't feel like it. Either way he put it on.

Stan took his hesitance as acceptance and went back to set up another mannequin for the rest of the fake attractions.

"I'm helping!" Mabel returned just in time to lend him a hand. She grinned; her bedazzler was at the ready.

Her Grunkle just sighed.

Back to Dipper, he held the necklace up to his eye level, inspecting its markings, its edges, and its pointy ends. It looked nothing like any necklace he had seen before. It was, simply put, very detailed and it was obviously crafted by the hands of a master. But he shuddered a little as he noticed its overall sharpness, seeing that it glinted in the light. Just like the katana's sheathe. He glanced at the weapon he held. The coldness in his hand was gone, but the feeling lingered. He didn't like feeling it, it felt like a different brand of cold. And the hilt... He loosened his grip.

 _"It feels too comfy..."_

"Hey Dipper! Are you going to help or what?!" Stan yelled beside a half-bedazzled mannequin, Mabel laughing at her side of it.

"Oh, right! Sorry!" Dipper apologized. He'd forgotten that they were going to set everything up. He frowned. It wasn't like him to forget.

 _"I'd better let go of this and go help the others..."_

He dropped the katana back in its crate. The pre-teen gave it one last thoughtful look, before turning to leave.

He never saw it shake violently, before it went deathly still.

* * *

 **Author's Note 2**

Yeah, I know it's a poor beginning to a fanfic, but what can I do when I'm a lazy jackass? Not much, obviously. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed reading this (if it was enjoyable at all) as much as I did (read: a lot). Pray for another chapter to magically appear from the crazy blockade that is my Writer's Block if you like to see more. God willing, I might be able to make one, if only eventually (or never at all). Remember to feed me all your sincere hatred so I can get off my ass and start making the next chapter already.

Until next time, readers.


	2. Chapter I

**Author's Note 1**

Well what do you know. So I decided to continue this for reasons unfathomable to me at all. Since I'm basically pulling stuff out of my ass just to continue whatever sorry excuse of a plot this fanfic has, who knows how horrible this will turn out to be when I'm done with it. Oh well, a fanfic's a fanfic no matter how hard you might wish it to be otherwise - so I'd better continue. I might as well, as I have noticed I have never actually finished a story of mine before... because I have the nasty and sadistic habit of leaving people high and dry. Now aren't I an ass? Quite.

* * *

 _Chapter One_

 _It Begins_

* * *

The rest of the day passed without much incident, aside from Soos being buried under the large pile of armor he'd been carrying for Stan. All the attractions they busily set up for the day after tomorrow were all in place and not one of them looked shoddily displayed. Luckily there weren't any tourists around, so they managed to get all of it done in less than two hours, with the rest of the day being spent on more messing around with the merchandise. It took a lot of yelling from Stan to make Dipper, Mabel, Wendy and Soos stop pretending to be samurai.

It was now late at night in Gravity Falls, and the Mystery Shack was quiet as a tomb, with both Wendy and Soos having went home hours earlier to leave the Pines family to settle in for the evening. It was around midnight and the time presented the perfect opportunity for the neurotic Dipper to consult the 3rd Journal for any information about cursed objects or curses in general and how to deal with them. He'd been at it for an hour and yet he was already half-way through the cryptic book - apparently, the Journal wasn't being as helpful as he wanted it to be.

On his side of the attic, there Dipper sat on his bed, slowly flipping through the rest of the pages for what he sought. Part of it was because he didn't want to wake Mabel up; today's events had exhausted her to the point he couldn't bring himself to tell her about the strange things that happened to him that morning, while the other part was simply because he didn't want to risk ruining the pages and lose crucial information. That being said, he had been tempted to. The exhaustion he felt from having to prepare all the attractions with the others was getting to him.

Mabel's soft snoring gave him the energy and the will to look through the whole Journal, or at least until he found what he needed. So far, he still haven't had much luck. The lamp that he turned on and placed beside the Journal was proof of the time and effort he spent on delving into the book's pages, turning up nothing all the while. He silently sighed. It was frustrating, finding nothing for his efforts, but still he tried: He couldn't get what he saw in his reflection out of his head. That thing definitely wasn't normal. It was another mystery he wanted to solve.

He stopped chewing the top of his pen, feeling his dry throat. As much as he wanted to continue searching through the Journal and then get some sleep, Dipper just couldn't ignore it. That, and he also didn't like feeling the crescent necklace's pointy edges on his bare skin nearly every time he moved around. The necklace had become his responsibility, courtesy of Grunkle Stan, so he just couldn't bring himself to neglect it. The prickly sensations from the pokes already got on his nerves, but then again he never got used to wearing a necklace like this one before.

Keeping that thought in mind, Dipper stifled a sigh, bookmarking the Journal and closing it. Thanks to the sense-jolting pricks he endured, his body was demanding him to sleep already, as if to make up for the hours he stayed up looking through the book. But he still hadn't found what he was looking for. And he didn't want to give up just yet. Yet he was tired, thirsty...

"A glass of milk would ought to help..." He muttered to himself. He glanced at Mabel, who suddenly turned in her sleep. _"Yeah, and I should keep it down too."_

Sneaking across the room Dipper tip-toed down the stairs and went into the kitchen, carefully avoiding all of the floorboards he knew would noticeably creak should he ever step on them. It was easier said than done, with the number of creaky floorboards outnumbering the ones that weren't.

Dipper only had his Grunkle Stan to blame for that. What a cheapskate.

He grabbed an empty glass and took out the milk carton from the fridge. He poured himself a glass, and returned it from where it was. He drank some of it and made his way back to bed... when he thought he heard something skitter across the floor in the living room. He paused in the hallway, milk forgotten in his hand.

 _"What was that?"_ He strained his ears to listen. but heard nothing. _" Was it just my imagination...?"_

Too much time passed. Dipper eventually yawned, his eyelids starting to droop. _"I guess it's time to hit the hay... I'll finish looking through the rest of the Journal tomorrow."_

Had he not climbed up the stairs to go back to his bed and instead investigated the noise, Dipper would've found that he was wrong.

* * *

The morning after, the twins awoke to a scream of anguish. Dipper and Mabel woke up, looked at each other, and came to one conclusion:

"Grunkle Stan!"

They ran downstairs only to see their Grunkle standing in the middle of the Shack's destroyed living room in his pajamas. They gaped as they took in the ruined furniture, the broken TV, and the gouged stone walls where the cracked stones threatened to fall off any second now, and so did the old wallpaper on the scratched wooden walls. The aquarium was smashed into bits, the water soaking into the dirtied carpet. The air conditioner in the room let out sparks every now and then. The ceiling lights hung limply. Shards of glass from the aquarium were scattered on the floor and small dark splotches of something they couldn't tell what were everywhere. Some of them looked vaguely like hand prints, only too misshapen, too thin to be from a person's.

They were even on the ceiling somehow, forming tracks that started from the floor. But they had no definite origin point - there were far too many of them to tell.

"My stuff!" Stan exclaimed, his hands grasping his head in panic and looking from one place to another. "What happened to my stuff?!"

"Woah..." The twins gasped, once they fully comprehended the mess.

To see this much destruction in their living room was quite the shocker - in other words a horrible thing to see at this hour in the morning. Stan, either ignoring the kids or never noticing their presence, ran into the kitchen to frantically call for the police. Dipper and Mabel were left by the doorway to continue witnessing the remains of their once homely living room, which was now nothing more than a rather squalid place to be. On top of the rubble strewn about, the living room also smelled badly. When the horrible stench finally hit their brains, they automatically recoiled in disgust and tried not to inhale any of it, backing away slightly. However, something about it was awfully familiar... where could they have smelled this very nasty smell before?

"Dipper?" Mabel had her fingers pinching her nose shut in slow realization. "Doesn't this smell like..."

"Those two crates from yesterday? Yeah..." Her brother answered quietly, a frown settling on his face. "But why? They aren't even in this room!"

Dipper looked around and noticed something out of place. It was a piece of wood that looked old and termite-ridden. It stood out of the rubble and he couldn't help but pick it up and inspect it closely on his palm. While Dipper did all that, Mabel stared at the tracks on the ceiling, muttering something about a 'spider pig' under her breath and heavily scrutinizing the rest of the mess.

"Hey Mabel, doesn't this look like it belongs to those crates we moved yesterday?" He asked his sister.

She turned to see and her eyes widened. "Yeah, it kinda does. But what's it doing here?"

It was a good question, one that sent Dipper's mind on overdrive. The answer could be anything - be it supernatural or mundane in nature. But there were more pressing matters to attend to. He sighed. They were preoccupied with the ravaged living room, and he'd rather let themselves focus on one thing at a time despite how much he wanted to solve it like any other mystery.

"We'll look into that later." He begrudgingly allowed.

"Okay." Mabel nodded, before her face scrunched up at the smell again.

The twins turned back to face the ravaged living room.

Dipper hummed. He narrowed his eyes at everything. "An animal could've done this, but we would've heard its rampage from upstairs." He walked over to the walls to examine them, careful not to step on the broken glass or disturb the debris everywhere. Staying by the doorway, Mabel watched him slowly feel his hand across the scratches and gouges. Her brother inspected his palm once he stopped. Now it was mostly covered in a thick layer of dust, which was surprising. Dipper raised an eyebrow. "But if it wasn't an animal... then what destroyed our living room?"

It was Mabel's turn to think, before she abruptly shrugged. Nothing came into mind; she couldn't imagine anything that could have done this. "I dunno...?"

Meanwhile, Stan returned from the kitchen. He finally noticed them standing by the doorway. Compared to what he acted like earlier, he was calmer now.

"Oh hey kids. The police are coming over to investigate what happened here. I want you two to help Blubs and Durland as best as you can when they get here." The conman paused, humming thoughtfully with a face that the twins learned to fear. It was his cooking face. "And oh, I'm going to make you guys breakfast. Hope it's going to turn out edible this time."

Dipper and Mabel groaned. Great, just great.

* * *

It wasn't long until Soos came in for work. When he saw the destruction in the living room, he immediately put it upon himself to clean the mess. But he had to be told by Stan to put that on hold, seeing as the incompetent police officers had yet to arrive. By the time the two of them did, Dipper and Mabel had already freshened up for the day and were back in their usual clothes.

The twins helped Blubs and Durland do their jobs but even they couldn't properly explain how the living room got devastated, as well as some other things that didn't make sense. Like the fact there were no signs of forced entry from either the doors or the windows, and the fact nobody in the Mystery Shack had heard anything suspicious during the night and in the early hours of the morning. Though they took pictures of the damaged living room, canvassed and cordoned it off, and did the usual stuff police do when they examined a crime scene, they found nothing.

The best theory Dipper and Mabel got out of them was that a wild animal - which somehow got in - had indeed caused all of the damage. They were unsure which animal, though. Blubs was firmly convinced it was an opossum while Durland thought it was a honey badger. Obviously there were a lot of holes in their theory but the twins were nice enough not to say that to their faces, even though they couldn't figure out what really happened in the Shack's living room. While they reported their findings to Stan, Dipper took more pictures and Mabel called in Soos.

"Well Mr. Pines, I'd hate to say it, but it looks like we can't be of much help." Sheriff Blubs was saying to an unamused Stan as his partner revved up the engine to their patrol car. The man looked apologetic as he adjusted his shades and his belt. "While I'd like to catch the little critter myself, I have a movie marathon to watch with Durland later today."

"Don't forget our ice cream eating contest!" The Deputy added helpfully from the driver's seat.

His partner chuckled. "Yeah, that too."

Stan buried his face into his palm and groaned.

"Why did I even bother calling you guys?" He glared at Blubs between his fingers. Then he remembered that, despite his incompetence, Blubs was still a police officer that could throw him in jail, so he thought better and stopped and let his arms fall by their side. He instead lifted up a hand and began shooing him. "Whatever, just scram already. Go be idiots somewhere else."

The police officers were only too happy to oblige. Blubs nodded and tipped his hat, getting into the car and putting his seatbelt on in record time. Waving, Durland drove themselves off out of sight of the Mystery Shack's inhabitants. The small dust clouds the patrol car kicked up that settled down and the sounds of its engine gradually becoming soft were proof they were gone.

"That's the last time I call them." Stan grumbled under his breath, turning to go and get ready to swindle any tourist unlucky enough to come to the Mystery Shack, leaving the twins outside.

Dipper scratched his head and took out the crate fragment from his pocket, furrowing his eyebrow at it. "Something about all of this just doesn't add up."

Mabel hummed. She looked back at the Mystery Shack, where she could hear Soos fixing the living room. "Especially the tracks. How can we get Waddles' tracks on the ceiling?"

"What?" Dipper blinked. Processing the question, he ignored it - Mabel was just being Mabel again. "Anyways, I don't think an animal did all of that. Could it have been a monster?"

"A monster? Like what kind of monster?" Mabel asked, tilting her head. "Oooh, could the gnomes have done this?!"

"I don't think they'd do something like that, Mabel." The pre-teen shrugged, ruffling the back of his head anxiously. "But I don't really know... I think I'll need to look through the- AH, WENDY!"

The redhead in question had appeared all of a sudden right beside the twins. She was dressed as she usually was, but looked amused at Dipper's flailing around. Where she came from and how she popped up unannounced was a mystery in itself. Dipper was about to ask how she got there without him and his sister noticing but he bit back his tongue at the last moment - his mind was filled with jumbled thoughts and he wasn't sure if he could say something normally without looking like a gibbering mess of an idiot while he was still caught up in his surprise.

"Hey Dipper, hey Mabel." She greeted them casually. "I saw Dumb and Dumber drive by earlier. What happened here?"

Dipper calmed down enough not to feel embarrassed, and so he answered: "Our living room was destroyed, so we called them over to investigate."

Wendy's laid-back look turned into a frown. "Destroyed? How?"

"Beats us." Mabel shrugged, looking back again when she heard Soos hammering something. "They think an animal did it."

"But we don't believe their theory. It just doesn't add up." Dipper continued.

"You're lucky you weren't there when we found out, Wendy. It was awful." Mabel shuddered, remembering the horrible smell.

"Huh." Wendy contemplated the news, her frown softening. "Well, at least nobody was hurt."

"Yeah..." Dipper nodded slowly.

Looking back, whatever ravaged their living room could have also ravaged them in their sleep if it wanted to. It was a terrifying thought.

 _"Dipper! Mabel! Get in here! I think you two need to see this!"_

It was Stan. The three of them shared a look, before running into the Shack.

* * *

Stan stood in front of a wall in the Museum area. He stared at it uncomfortably.

"Grunkle Stan?" Mabel called out as the trio rounded the corner. "What did you want us to see?"

The conman turned around to face them with a grimace. He slowly moved to the side to let them see. "This."

On the wall's surface, Japanese kanji was written all over it. And in the middle of it all, was the drawing of a giant pine tree with a body slumped against the base of the trunk.

Mabel and Wendy gasped. Dipper, clearly disturbed by the drawing but wanting to focus on the kanji, moved to get a closer look. That was when he noticed something off about it.

"Wait a minute..." He leaned in to see it more clearly. "That body... It looks like... like... _ME_?!"

* * *

 **Author's Note 2**

Now we're going somewhere with this story. Hopefully I won't take long typing and then publishing the next chapter of this little story of mine. No matter how bad or clichéd this may turn out to be, I actually had some fun with this. Did you know that I've redone this chapter over five times trying to get it 'right'? Anyhow, since the story's 'plot' is starting to kick up, who knows what'll happen next? And oh, here are questions that will leave you thinking. What's with the ruined living room? What's with the drawing on the wall? When are other characters going to appear?

And what's with the poor quality of this fanfic? Oh wait, you already know the answer to that one.

Until next time, readers.


	3. Chapter II

**Author's Note 1**

Well, I have to say that I am surprised by the fact that people actually like to read this fanfic, and that they're telling me I shouldn't be so harsh on what I've published as well as that I shouldn't be such a downer on myself. They've raised valid points and I admit that I am being too negative about the whole ordeal. I don't say this often, so... Thank you, all of you. I'll try not to be as negative as I used to be, but I think I'll still have my moments every now and then. The road to recovery is a long and hard one, and honestly I think I won't recover until after a very long while.

* * *

 _Chapter Two_

 _A Glimpse Of What's To Come_

* * *

Dipper found it hard to breathe. What he saw on the wall rattled him far more than it should have. Seeing yourself dead in an eerie drawing tended to do that to you and to the young brunet, it rang all of the alarms in his head. He never felt this unsettled before. The fact that the drawing wished specifically for his death gnawed at his mind. He knew he was going to be at least panic-stricken or worse petrified the moment shock would wear off. He sweated and his vision got hazy - someone really wanted him dead and buried six feet under. But who? Better yet, _why_?

Stan put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it reassuringly. "Dipper, I think this is someone's idea of a cruel prank. Don't let it get to you."

"Y-Yeah..." The boy muttered, clearly not listening.

He stared at the base of the tree. The look on his face told them his mind was elsewhere, and the others couldn't blame him for acting this way. Mabel walked to her brother's side and pulled him into a hug. It was all that she could do to stop Dipper from even hyper-ventilating, because like her brother, she was also rattled by the drawing on the wall. The very thought of losing him scared her to the core. A life without her twin... It was simply unthinkable. She buried her face into his shoulder, trembling, as small tears threatened to fall from the corners of her eyes.

Wendy glared at the wall. "Who would do something like this?"

Nobody knew the answer to her question, and a heavy silence settled in the hallway only to be occasionally pierced by Mabel doing her best not to cry. Stan approached the twins and pulled them into a hug, taking moments to let go when he heard a metallic rustling become louder. It was Soos, who was carrying his toolbox and whistling a tune that went against the mood the others were feeling. Stan and Wendy both had half a mind to shut him up but they didn't. Soos didn't know what was going on and telling him off would be a very harsh thing to do to him.

"Mr. Pines?" He called out. "I fixed what I could in the living room, but-" He took in the scene before him. "Woah. Dudes, what happened here?"

Stan motioned him close and Soos walked to his side. He made him lean close and whispered a few things into his ear. The man's eyes widened, but narrowed just as quickly.

"I understand, Mr. Pines. I won't let you down." He said in absolute seriousness. "I'll get right on it."

Soos saluted and quickly went away, perhaps to his break room where he now kept the majority of his tools. The conman turned to the redhead next. Likewise with Soos, he motioned her close and after she leaned in, he whispered into her ear. Every now and then she would nod to whatever Stan was saying to her. Finally, the man stopped and she stood straight back up again, looking as serious as Soos did. Stan took his wallet out and grabbed a lot of cash from it. Wendy gave one final nod and pocketed the notes. She understood what needed to be done.

Wendy turned to the twins. She put on an encouraging smile. "Alright guys, let's go and get you two food. Real food, not the food Stan told me he cooked you this morning."

"Okay." Mabel answered for both herself and her brother quietly. She slowly pulled at Dipper to make him move along.

Eventually he did, but he kept looking back at the drawing until they rounded the corner again. Wendy walked by Dipper's side and put a hand on his shoulder to reassure him, just like his Grunkle did. He blushed and looked away from everyone. Mabel perked up a little, a smile starting to form on her lips. No doubt she planned to tease her brother about it later. The trio slowly talked to each other about the silliest things as they wandered through the Shack and onto the path outside towards town. Stan knew they were going to be fine when he heard them laugh.

Once he was sure they were out of earshot, that was when he clenched his fists.

"I swear when I find whoever did this, I'll beat them up!" The conman growled, his rage barely subdued. "Nobody threatens my family except me!"

Meanwhile over by the wall, Soos adjusted his hat and got to work. He'll do all that he could to make that drawing on the wall into nothing more than a bad memory, as even he couldn't help but feel unsettled just by looking at it. His mission was to get it completely out of sight and out of mind for everyone in the Shack, and that was something he was definitely going to do - the mental image of Dipper, dead and slumped against the base of a pine tree, was enough to give him nightmares and that much he was sure of. Nothing would ever be the same without him.

* * *

Greasy's Diner probably wasn't the cleanest or healthiest diner around in the quiet little Oregon town of Gravity Falls, but it was the closest and had good enough food. Lazy Susan went over to the group and served the twins the diner's best pancakes, and Wendy a sandwich. Dipper and Mabel started wolfing down their food while Wendy took her time with hers. They sat in a booth by a window, which gave them a clear view of the road and the parking lot. A few people drove past or walked by on the sidewalks. Just another seemingly normal day in Gravity Falls.

If only those people knew.

Dipper chewed his last piece of pancake thoughtfully. Despite the best efforts of his friends and family, he couldn't put the drawing out of his head. He remembered all of it vividly, the way his 'corpse' lay against the wood, his eyes glazed over and lifeless, his body limp and cold, and the bloody spot on his gut dark and deep. Unconsciously, he rubbed his palm against the same area he saw himself bled at. There was no phantom pain, but that didn't make him feel any less unsettled. Nobody noticed him move. Wendy and Mabel were too busy enjoying their food.

Something about that drawing didn't sit well with Dipper. Other than being disturbing of course, but it was just that it didn't make any sense, like the many other things he thought over about in the course of this morning. First, the mysterious destruction of the Shack's living room. No signs of forced entry, or any signs of anyone or anything being in the room at the time of its demise. Blubs and Durland saw to that. Now, the death threat addressed to him on the wall in the hallway. Other than Gideon, who else wanted him dead? It raised more questions than it did answers.

It was all random - yet it felt like one person was doing two different things at the same time. But who was this one person? And why was he or she doing this?

Was it even a person doing all of this to begin with?

 _"Just what is going on here?"_ He mused to himself. _"This doesn't feel like a mystery the Journal could solve..."_

He gulped down his pancake, reaching for his drink. Mabel grinned and swiped it before her brother could get it.

"Nope!" She teased, holding the drink as far as she could from him.

Dipper sighed in exasperation, then laughed along with her while he tried and repeatedly failed to grab it. "Mabel! Give it back!"

Wendy laughed too and watched the siblings continue to bicker. But something in the corner of her eyes caught her attention. Someone was by the lamppost across the street, just standing there. But staring at her general direction. Or maybe the twins'. She couldn't tell or get a clear look, so when she turned, the person walked out of her sight. Before he or she did, she caught a fleeting view of monochrome. Everything else about that person seemed indistinct. Huh. That was strange. Wendy was usually good at remembering people and what they looked like.

The redhead frowned. However, seeing that she was here to keep Dipper and Mabel preoccupied on Stan's behalf, she focused on them instead.

* * *

Soos looked proudly at his handiwork.

The wall looked good as new, and he couldn't see the drawing which was on it. It was only just a matter of covering it up with wallpaper like Stan had told him to, but he went the extra mile by covering that wallpaper up with another one that matched the rest of the Mystery Shack's walls. So on top of the drawing being covered up, anyone who hadn't seen it would be hard pressed to find where it is. Minutes after the wallpaper paste dried off, the man felt his hand across the surface. He couldn't even feel the thin, deep scratches that made up the drawing anymore.

He nodded in approval. "Well, this will do."

He put his tools away and cleaned up after himself. He brushed the small fallen wood chips into a pan, made sure he hadn't dropped any paste on the floor, and left no trace of his presence or of his work near the wall. The wall ended up looking as if it had never been touched. Giving it one last look over, he nodded again and turned to go to his break room. The whole thing didn't take long actually, so about any second now the others would be back. Or so he hoped. As for his boss, Soos wasn't sure where Stan went while he did all this. He literally vanished.

Last he could remember, the man was fuming. He already knew why, and he also knew better than to ask a stupid question whenever Stan was in a bad mood.

The man shrugged, going over to sit down on his couch. He was alone and now that he thought about it, he didn't mind - the Shack hadn't opened yet and no tourists were coming. Soos yawned. It wasn't because he didn't sleep easy last night, it was more because he felt a little tired. Since he had already done everything that he could, he didn't know what to do next. Doing nothing lulled him into ease, and he soon found himself slowly closing his eyes, only to abruptly wake up and look around. He was sure he heard something. Or was he hearing things?

He scratched the back of his head after a moment of listening, hearing nothing. He looked at the time and hummed. "Maybe I should go and take a nap."

Soos never noticed the figure that was watching him the entire time. It went into the Exhibit area, where if one listened carefully, something skittered faintly across the floor.

* * *

The walk back to the Mystery Shack was a fairly uneventful one. Dipper and Mabel had stopped bickering and Wendy led them home. On the way they hadn't talked much, with what Dipper thinking about what happened earlier in the morning, Mabel thinking about making another sweater, and Wendy thinking about that person who had been watching them from outside the diner. It was peaceful. Birds chirped and flew by. Grass and bushes rustled as animals made their presence known. They could see the Mystery Shack's totem. They were almost there.

A scream broke the silence.

"That came from the Shack." Wendy started with an alarmed expression.

Without looking at each other the trio broke into a run.

Mabel managed to get ahead of everyone and burst through the Gift Shop area's door. "Soos?! Grunkle Stan?!"

"Soos! Grunkle Stan! Where are you guys?!" Dipper called out louder.

Something fell to the floor in the Exhibit area of the Shack. Since it was suffocatingly quiet, they heard it clearly. Wendy's eyes narrowed and she grabbed an umbrella with a heavy handle.

"Stay here!" The redhead sternly ordered the twins. Without waiting for an answer she darted to the other room.

Dipper and Mabel stopped, sharing a look. They wanted to find Grunkle Stan and Soos. They wanted them to be safe and unharmed, but they also wanted Wendy to be safe too. Whatever was going on, it was starting to get dangerous if it wasn't already, and they didn't want her to get hurt. Not when they could also do something to help. Mabel pulled out her grappling hook gun and Dipper took a pair of more heavy-handled umbrellas, one of which he handed over to his sister. Together they followed Wendy's tracks and caught up to her just as she abruptly stopped.

"Wendy?" Dipper asked her tentatively. They walked to her side and saw that her face was pale. "What's wrong?"

"I..." The redhead released a shaky breath. She stared at something in the room. "Look inside."

The male Pines twin raised an eyebrow, but didn't press for more questions - Wendy looked disturbed and he didn't know why yet.

Mabel peeked into the other room and let out a gasp. She shortly trembled. _"Dipper?"_

Dipper rushed to his sister's side. He didn't like the fearful tone in her voice. He put a hand on her shoulder. "Mabel? What is it?"

She mutely pointed at something. Following her gaze, he also couldn't help but to gasp as well. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped.

In the middle of the room, from the highest beam on the ceiling, a long rope whose other end was tied in a noose slowly swayed ominously to a non-existent wind. An overturned chair was directly beneath it, but no body hung from the noose, even though it seemed like it. What felt like hours passed before Dipper snapped out of it. He was the only one. and the noose still swayed. Wendy and Mabel were silent, focusing on its unnerving movement like it was some sort of leaf in the wind with unreadable expressions on their faces. It wasn't what they expected.

Unlike the living room, where there had been much destruction without any sign of the perpetrator, the room was completely intact and didn't smell like the crates. There were no tracks either. Despite this, the twins found it more unnerving than seeing their destroyed living room. There was a comfort in knowing that at least something had ravaged it, that an animal could have done it and that was the end of that, compared to the Exhibit area where there was completely no sign of anyone or anything having prepared the noose and tipped over the chair to make a racket.

Suddenly, there were footsteps. Slow, steady footsteps. The trio heard it and tensed, thinking the same thing: Did they belong to the person who terrorised the Shack this morning, and now?

Dipper quickly held up his umbrella, moving in front of Mabel to protect her. Wendy shook her head to refocus and her grip on her umbrella tightened even more.

In the dimly lit hallway a figure approached them. Its shape looked startlingly familiar but they didn't want to take any chances. Wendy ran up to it and struck it first at its face.

"Hyah!"

 _"Ow!"_

Mabel immediately fired her grappling hook at the figure's feet. The hook spun around them and the rope tightened.

"Take this!"

She pulled with Dipper's help and it fell down.

 _"Oof!"_

"And this!"

Dipper raised his umbrella-

 _"Woah woah woah, wait! Dudes, it's me!"_

Only to see that the figure he was about to clobber was Soos.

"Soos!" They exclaimed in relief, before rushing over to untangle the rope around his feet and helped him up. "We're sorry! We didn't know it was you!"

He smiled weakly. "It's all right, dudes. All is forgiven. Besides, I think I kinda deserve it for not asking if was you guys."

* * *

It took a while, but they got Soos up to speed on what happened so far as they assisted the man into the kitchen. They got him to sit on a chair before he told them his side of the story.

"Then I heard a commotion, and I decided to check it out. I thought you guys were thieves who broke in or something." He finished telling, while Mabel tended to his injuries. She applied an icepack to his bruised cheek, where Wendy had hit him. "Thanks Mabel. Anyways, I was napping in my break room, so that's why I didn't hear all of you coming in and looking for me and Mr. Pines."

"Speaking of Grunkle Stan," Mabel interrupted worriedly. "Where is he, Soos? Is he okay?"

Soos frowned. "I don't know, dude. He wasn't around when I fell asleep."

"Wait." Dipper stopped pacing and stared at Soos in wide-eyed surprise. "Soos, if you were napping in your break room, then who screamed?"

The man's frown deepened. "I don't know either, Dipper. I didn't hear anyone scream."

"But we heard someone scream!" The boy insisted. "We heard it just as we were coming up to the Shack. Wendy even said it came from inside. Right, Wendy?"

The redhead was intently staring at something outside the Shack, so she didn't answer. Mabel nudged her softly with her elbow and she snapped back to reality.

"Huh?" She turned to Mabel, then to Dipper. "Oh, you were saying something, Dipper?"

Instead of being annoyed, the male twin got curious. He took another kitchen chair, placed it beside Wendy, and then stood on it. He looked through the window like she did and saw nothing out of the ordinary... except that Stan's car, the one he called the Stanmobile, was nowhere in sight. That might explain why his Grunkle was gone - he might have left the Mystery Shack without telling Soos where he was going and why. He shrugged. At least he now knew Stan was safe. Or so he hoped. Still, that didn't answer his question of who screamed when Soos didn't.

He looked at the teen. "What did you see out there, Wendy?" He asked. Truth be told he felt worried and suspected she was seeing things that weren't there. _Or were._ "Wendy?"

The redhead took another moment of silence, before abruptly shaking her head. "I'm sorry, but what was that, Dipper? I think I'm kinda spacing out here."

"Are you okay?" Dipper finally asked her. He bravely got closer to his crush. "You're acting weird."

"Yeah... yeah, I'm fine." She replied. She ran a hand through her hair and sighed. "I think... I think I saw someone suspicious out there earlier, back at the diner."

Mabel gulped. She did not like the sound of that, nor did she like where Wendy headed with this.

"Like...?" The little brunette found herself asking tentatively. Wendy frowned.

"A guy, or at least I think it was a guy but... greyed out. I couldn't get a clear look at his face." She sighed again. "I just don't know, Mabel."

Dipper recognised an opening when he saw one. Most of the time, at least. "What else could you tell us about this... person?"

"You mean other than him being greyed out?" The redhead asked quizzically. "He kinda looked... blurry. Like he was in a low-quality video or something."

Soos suddenly gasped. "Dude, I think you saw a ghost."

The kitchen fell silent and everyone looked at the man in surprise.

He continued. "What else would it be? I mean, ghosts are grey most of the time, right?"

The others put on thoughtful looks. Dipper scratched his chin and muttered things under his breath. Mabel looked uncomfortable, and Wendy frowned again.

"Or at least I think they are." Soos paused, before shuddering. "That, or I've been watching way too many Japanese horror films. They're really scary, you know."

"I think you're on to something, Soos." Dipper began, pacing around in a circle again.

He gave himself five minutes to think it through before sharing his theory. In the meanwhile, Wendy and Mabel raised their eyebrows while Soos paled slightly at the thought that he could be right about Wendy seeing a ghost. That would mean that ghosts are real, ergo meaning that things he saw happen to the characters in all of the Japanese horror flicks he watched could also happen to him. He shuddered again, and after looking around the man grabbed a pillow and hugged it tightly while slowly shaking. The teen and pre-teen shrugged at Soos' fearful reaction.

The brunet stopped and cleared his throat. "What wrecked the living room, what Wendy saw at the diner, and the noose..." He looked at the others. "What if they were all caused by a ghost?"

"But Dipper," Mabel started. "If a ghost is responsible for all of this, then why is it doing it? And why is it targeting us?"

"I don't know," Dipper said in a low voice and paced again. "But I think I know where to start..."

* * *

 **Author's Note 2**

Good God that was long. I know that a few things probably won't make any sense or aren't actually any good in this chapter, but to Hell with it. I'll sort mistakes later, enduring my self-loathing in the meanwhile, while thinking up what to let happen next, and overall have a good time doing all of this. Yeah, that sounds about right. Now that the plot is going along, let me ask you a few questions. Just where did Stan go? What the heck is with the creepy noose in the exhibit area of the Shack? And the scream? Speaking of it I forgot to deal with it in this chapter. Oh well.

Oh yeah, here are some fun facts. It took me a while to figure out what to do in this chapter. Because of that, that is why it seems too fast. I mean, the last chapter ended with Dipper seeing himself 'dead' in an elaborate death threat of sorts. All of a sudden, in the span of a few hours in-story it already progressed to this point. While I know what I'm doing here is a fanfic, I can't help but feel being bound to the logic of a story and that's why I feel uncomfortable with speeding it up a notch. Ah, the pains of being a third-rate author. I know what I'm talking about here.

Continuing this is compelling, worth my time and a good eye-opener. For what, I don't know. And though I do my best make it sensible... sometimes, I just lose sight of what's needed. Ugh. Maybe in the future, looking back on this fanfic chapter, I'll probably say to myself: "McSlendy, you dumbass.", because I couldn't give it enough polishing. Then I'll say, "Yeah, I've noticed." And ignore my own insults to go on and publish more chapters to this fanfic because I can and I want to flip the bird at myself. A weird way to motivate one's self, I know, but hey it works.

Enough insane ramblings from me. I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed typing this up. Thank all of you again for the support. I mean it.

Until next time, readers.


End file.
